Fun time with Pictures

[HappyDog]

Fred,
You will likely do best by talking to local traditional boat, house, or furniture makers for finding suitable wood for a mast. What you are looking for is a species that is light and strong. A story; as kids, my brother and I were left with family in the Bay Islands of Honduras and were given a local "dory". Naturally we wanted a sail. The solution was that we had to collect materials and then a rig could be fashioned for us. Sacks from large bags of baking flour was the material of choice as it was durable, available, and not expensive (50 cents each). At the time it was the traditional material and sails there were rated by the number of sacks used in their construction. They also made wonderfully comfortable shirts. For a mast we were sent into the bush with a local woodsman who after maybe an hour selected a small tree, chopped and limbed it, and gave us boys the task of bringing it out of the bush to town. It wasn't a big tree, just big enough for trimming to finished mast size, and fairly straight. Didn't cost us a dime. Can't say what name that tree had, I asked, he just replied that it had a lot of names but it was the right tree.
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Look for light and strong. Look for Quarter Sawn lumber if you go to a lumber supplier. Talk to the old guy building a Nipa house.


Cheers!

[Monies]

HappyDog, I love your boating and childhood memories. No wonder you are the person you are today, what a wonderful way to grow up. Hope to meet you in person some day. North Carolina is still a good possibility. Want to see that Scamp!

Love, Jackie Monies Cowboy Cookies Scamp